


Before the Fall

by amitiel



Category: FFXV - Fandom, Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Adbuction, Angst, Blood, Gladnis, Hurt/Comfort, Ignis gets hurt in this but he doesn't die, Injury, M/M, Promptis - Freeform, Rescue, Threats, Violence, Whump, before maingame, good ending, promtis - Freeform, whump!Ignis, whumpnis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:53:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,958
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26116762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amitiel/pseuds/amitiel
Summary: Ignis finds himself in a dire situation, preparing to say goodbye for good. There is no good way out of it instead of waiting and hoping. But why is he surrounded by Magitek troopers, who is that bound in the chair across from him, and why does the one Magitek trooper sound so different?A story about how Ignis gets abducted and has to await rescue as his only chance of survival. Pre-main game sequence with some foreshadowing in there.
Relationships: Gladiolus Amicitia/Ignis Scientia, Prompto Argentum/Noctis Lucis Caelum
Comments: 5
Kudos: 50





	Before the Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Xhidaka](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xhidaka/gifts).



“Tell me where he is,” the sound of breaking limbs was harsh, and Ignis let out a guttural scream that he had tried to withhold to the last possible moment. He looked up at the ceiling, pain contorting his face as he felt the agony rip through his arm, radiating through his torso and down to his toes. 

Before he could catch his breath, a fist connected with his stomach, the thud spreading outward as if he had been hit by a car. It took his breath away entirely, and he lurched forward to fall off the chair, only to be caught by the ropes around his shoulders. The sharp and stabbing pain turned to an agonizing ache, his breathing coming in jagged inhales. At least one rib was broken, but Ignis was willing to bet it was more.

“Tell me where the prince is,” he demanded, his voice sounding far too familiar for Ignis’s liking. He seethed through his teeth as someone grabbed his hair, wrenching his head back as if his scalp would come off. “Tell me where he is, or your precious friend gets it worse.”

They let his hair slacken just enough so Ignis could see the dim light trained on the person bound to the chair in front of him. A painful ache went through his heart the moment that he saw Prompto sitting there, his head drooped against his chest as he remained deep in unconsciousness. Ignis hoped he didn’t wake up. There would be no coming back for him if he did.

That’s when Ignis realized the sound of the people talking. It was similar to Prompto’s, just a bit strange and off. Mechanical almost. As if it was him, just stuffed inside a toy doll. Ignis trained his eyes on the person standing in front of him, his eyes struggling to adjust since they had taken his glasses. Their faces were certainly Prompto’s, but they were contorted, disturbed, changed. Magitek troopers. 

Ignis was confused. Magitek troopers were supposed to be just mindless drones, and Prompto was anything but that. He was lively, vivacious, the epitome of love in Noctis’s eyes. Surely, there was no way he could possibly resemble them, just as there was no way for Ignis to have been taken by them. They weren’t capable of such tasks.

“Oh my dear,” a languid voice said, emanating from the Magitek trooper that stood before him. “Your confusion pleases me greatly. You see, I only wish to take your precious prince and grant him the reprieve we both deserve. He is young and does not need to embark on such a journey. Let me put him out of his misery, and in turn I shall save you all.”

“Who are you?!” Ignis demanded, ignoring all semblance of compunction, all need to protect himself. He swore from the day that he met Noctis that he would protect him. Growing up protecting him didn’t stop now that they were adults. “I will never surrender Noctis! I-”

An armored hand crashed against his left cheek, the pain engulfing him like a flame scouring his soul. Instead of giving into the pressure, Ignis glared through the blood covering his eye, his defiance shining through. This was why he was at Noctis’s side. He was prepared to die at any moment. It was something that unified him with Gladio, something that bound them together until they found something else within that resilient loyalty. 

“I think I’ll take pleasure in killing you,” the same voice said through the Magitek, as if there was someone sitting behind a computer, controlling what it did and said. “But first, him. I wonder what his beloved would think to find him. Oh! What a wonderful idea! I will kill him and keep you alive! That way, you will forever be blamed for not protecting Noctis’s precious lover.”

“No,” Ignis whispered as the Magitek walked over to Prompto, its limbs moving in a strange amalgamation that resembled human movement. He struggled against the ropes, his anger and desperation coursing through his veins, dulling any pain that he felt. “No!”

Whatever adrenaline was coursing through his body did the trick. The ropes gave way, either from his sheer strength and unwillingness to let Prompto die before his eyes or from wearing them down. Probably a bit of both. Ignis didn’t have time to think about it. He launched himself at the Magitek, landing on him in a jarring thud that sent them both toppling to the ground.

There was a sickening squelch, the sound of metal piercing into human flesh, and for a moment Ignis didn’t even feel it. Turning over onto his back, he saw the small blade sticking out of his abdomen, the blood pooling onto the floor and staining his shirt. It was after seeing through a blurry haze of blood and tears that he felt the pain, rippling out of him in some sort of shock. _Oh. I’ve been stabbed._

The answer was so obvious, but Ignis couldn’t think of anything else. The Magitek got up, standing on its feet before it straightened, limb by limb, a marionette caught in an endless waltz of blood and violence. A wheezing, breathless laugh echoed outward from it, and Ignis helplessly struggled to hold onto consciousness.

“Oh, this is better than I thought it would be,” the voice laughed. Ignis gritted his teeth and clenched his fist, his anger enough to keep him awake for now. Yet when he tried to sit up, he realized he was too weak, his broken arm not even so much as moving anymore. 

“You may kill us,” Ignis snapped, although it came out in labored breathing, a thin and fragile voice trying to call out beyond the madness. “But Noctis will live. He will kill you.”

The Magitek looked at him, cocking its head to the side as if trying to understand something that wasn’t fathomable, not for anyone who hadn’t loved Noctis like a brother, for anyone who was empty and devoid of spirit. “I look forward to it.”

It stepped closer to Ignis, but a moment later there was a flash of blush light, a screaming growl that resonated within Ignis’s chest in a cacophony of desperation and fierce desire. He knew that sound well. That light was all too familiar to him. Gladio was there, as was Noctis. They would save Prompto and at least be able to recover his body. Ignis let go of his struggle, his mind at ease knowing that they would be able to help.

“Ignis!” Gladio called as darkness clouded the edges of his vision. There was a clang of metal on metal, shouting from Noctis to Gladio, but Ignis couldn’t quite bring himself to care anymore. Prompto would be safe, they would live, and all his loved ones would be kept safe. For now, at least. 

“How is he?” Noctis asked, his voice sounding far away. The noise stopped, and Ignis felt someone or something lift him. There was talking, it might have been shouting, but Ignis couldn’t really understand it. Not anymore.

“Hold on, Ignis,” Gladio urged him. “Hold on.”

***

There was a hollow sound of a machine beeping, the steady pulse of a heart rate that sounded quite calm and at ease. Voices spoke in hushed tones, and the sound of people shuffling about reminded Ignis of a funeral parlor. With a strange cooling sensation in his veins, he felt the pain he didn’t even know he had dissipate in an instant.

“Am I dead?” Ignis murmured to no one in particular, although he was hoping that he wasn’t necessarily gone and that his favorite voice would respond to him. “Or am I just really that lucky?”

“I don’t know if luck is what I’d call it,” Gladio replied, sending a flurry of emotions through Ignis that he didn’t dare admit to anyone. “You look like you got hit by a truck.”

“I’m not stupid enough to walk out into traffic.” Ignis opened his eye, the left one apparently bandaged. He looked at Gladio, sitting on a chair next to the infirmary bed within the Citadel. He didn’t look like he had slept in a while. “You look like shit.”

“Look who’s talking,” Gladio huffed gruffly. Nevertheless, the relief was palpable. “What the fuck happened?”

Ignis thought back to it. He had been grocery shopping with Prompto, helping him prepare a nice dinner for his anniversary with Noctis. Prompto had even convinced him to prepare a special dinner for him and Gladio, insisting that it was nice to go above and beyond at times. It was just another normal day. 

Until it wasn’t. Ignis couldn’t remember anything after Prompto and he had turned down a street to head back to the Citadel. He had been distracted, his mind drifting to romantic thoughts of tender moments reserved only for Gladio. It had been his folly in the first place, and when he woke to find them both abducted, he scolded himself thoroughly.

“Magitek troopers,” Ignis began, his voice hoarse and wavering. He cleared his throat, wincing at the pain slightly, before continuing. “But they weren’t acting alone. Someone had to take us from the streets of Insomnia. Someone… Someone was speaking through one of them.”

He didn’t dare mention how up close the Magitek troopers resembled a horrifying shadow of Prompto’s visage. That wasn’t something they needed to know, and it wouldn’t change how any of them felt about Prompto. He was still their brethren, still Noctis’s lover, and his origin made no difference in the matter. It was very well something that Prompto might have already known, and Ignis wasn’t likely to reveal his secret to the world, even if he didn’t quite know the logistics of it. Perhaps he didn’t want to know.

“Who would do something so crazy in the middle of broad daylight?” Gladio pondered. “They’d have to be suicidal to do something like that.”

“They are,” Ignis remembered aloud. He looked at Gladio, his vision blurry still. Wordlessly, Gladio grabbed something, and a moment later he had his glasses on, able to see the prince’s Shield and his lover. “How bad is it?”

“Prompto’s fine,” Gladio began, a tremble of uncertainty in his voice. “The infirmary was able to take care of the worst of it, but… you have some recovering to do. Broken arm, a few broken ribs, fractured eye socket.”

“So the usual,” Ignis mused with a compulsory laugh. The laughter died on his lips when he observed just how worried Gladio was. “Thank you. For saving us both.”

“Don’t you get all dramatic on me now,” Gladio dismissed with a scoff and a smile. Nevertheless, his hand was holding onto Ignis’s, the tremble within it indicating just how worried he was. “Just heal for me.”

“I will,” Ignis promised him. A sudden sense of longing filled his heart, knowing that if Gladio hadn’t gotten there in time then he would be dead. Try as he might, his stoic facade fell away for just a moment, his heart wrenching at the thought of leaving Gladio alone or being left alone. “I’m not going anywhere. I love you.”

Gladio leaned over and kissed Ignis’s temple lightly, his lips connecting with the only unbruised and unbandaged portion of his forehead. “I love you too, Ignis.”

They let the moment pass in silence, the comforting sense that they had each other resonating within them in their one moment of reserved affection. Ignis didn’t need to tell Gladio that he loved him more than life itself. He knew it. But sometimes it was important to hear it. Now was one of those times. He hoped the next time would be more pleasant.

**Author's Note:**

> My summary on this sucks, but I hope readers enjoy it nevertheless. It's tons of whump because it is for a dear friend's birthday who enjoys whumping Ignis. I hope you enjoyed it dear, and if not then I apologize and will write you something else. Happy birthday, and uhh... here's some whump? XD
> 
> I kind of imagined that Ardyn was just tired of waiting around and decided to just test how strong Noctis's retinue was while also seeing if he could end things quickly, and this was the result.


End file.
